Client devices in a television-based entertainment system include set top boxes such as cable boxes, satellite receivers, and video cassette recorders (VCRs). Some client devices have recording capabilities and can be set-up to record a television (TV) program currently being broadcast. As the client device outputs the TV program being broadcast for display on a TV, a pause function can be initiated by a viewer. The pause function requested by the viewer causes the client device to stop outputting the TV program for display on the TV. In some client devices, the pause function allows the client device to continue to store the TV program being broadcast in a pause buffer. When the viewer wishes to resume watching the TV program, the viewer initiates a playback function. The playback function requested by the viewer causes the client device to read the TV program stored in the pause buffer and to output therefrom the TV program for display on the TV. As such, the pause buffer at the client device allows the viewer to take a break from the TV program without missing a scene.
In a practical application, a viewer can pause the output of a TV program from a client device to a TV receiver as the TV program being watched and broadcast. To do so, the viewer initiates a pause function at the client device, such as by using a remote control device that communicates with the client device to execute the pause function. The pause function causes the display on the TV receiver that is output by the client device to appear as freeze-frame. The then-tuned TV program is routed to a codec for compression and recording into a pause buffer. The viewer can later use the remote control device to stop the pause function by selecting a playback function. The playback function causes the client device to output for display on the TV receiver the TV program that was recorded in the pause buffer. The output begins at the place in the TV program where the pause function was initiated. During the playback function the portion of the TV program that is presently being broadcast is continuously being recorded. As such, the client device records the TV program so that the viewer does miss any portion of the broadcast. A hard drive or other fixed storage device, as well as a video tape or other removable media, can be used by the client device as storage areas for the pause buffer.
Difficulties are encountered by a viewer when the viewer initiates the pause function but then does not return to resume watching the TV program for an extended time period. For example, the client device can have a fixed size for its pause buffer size. This fixed pause buffer size may be allocated to record only up to thirty (30) minutes of the TV program being broadcast. Alternatively, the size of the pause buffer can be variable and made subject to change, depending upon how much disk space is available in the hard drive storage device of the client device. In practice, a thirty (30) minute pause buffer may be too short of a time period. For instance, if the viewer pauses a one-hour TV program shortly after it begins, the client device will run out of storage area in its 30 minute pause buffer and the viewer will miss scenes at the end of the one-hour TV program. When client device fills up its pause buffer, it may be preconfigured to automatically begin outputting the content of the pause buffer for display at a time that the viewer is not present to watch the display. In view of this problem, one solution is to make the pause buffer size quite large with respect to the length of a typical TV program for a particular broadcast network system. On the other hand, if the pause buffer is made too large, then the maximum recording capacity of the client device is diminished. It would be an advance in the art to further the objective of allowing a viewer to pause a TV program being broadcast while recording the TV program in its entirety given the forgoing constraints. Consequently, there is a need for improved methods, apparatus, client devices, computer programs, and systems that can provide such a capability.